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He was silent for a long while "You hadn’t been in your Fae form for ten years, so perhaps your instincts ­weren’t even able to take hold Soether intimately before the actual bond snaps into place"

"It’s a useless hope to cling to, anyway"

"Do you want the truth?"

She tucked her chin into her tunic and closed her eyes "Not to­night"

46

Shielding her eyes frolare, Celaena scanned the cliffs and the spit of beach far below It was scorching, with hardly a breeze, but Rowan reray jacket and wide belt, vaive her a few of his weapons that --­as a precaution

They’d returned to the latest site at dawn to retrace their steps--­and that here Celaena had picked up a trail Well, she’d spied a droplet of dark blood on a nearby rock, and then Rowan had followed the scent back toward the cliffs She looked down the beach, at the natural-­cut arches of the­here--­and the trail, thanks to the sea and wind and eleone cold They’d been ­here for the past half hour, looking for any other signs, but there was nothing Nothing, except--

There A sagging curve in the cliff edge, as if many pairs of feet had worn the lip down as they slid carefully over the edge Rowan gripped her arlared at hi not to be insulted," she said "Look"

They ­were hardly steps now--­just lumps of rock and sand peppered with shrubs The water beyond the beach was so clear and caluarded these shores It was one of the feays toyour boat, only wide enough for a sh No warships or merchant vessels would fit, undoubtedly one reason this area had never been developed It was the perfect place, however, if you wanted to surreptitiously enter the country--­and stay hidden

She began sketching in the sandy earth, a long, hard line, then drew dot after dot after dot

"The bodies ­were dumped in streams and rivers," she said

"The sea was never far off," he said, kneeling beside her "They could have dumped the bodies there But--"

"But then those bodies probably would drift right back to shore, and pro the beach Look ­here," she said, pointing to the stretch of coastline she’d sketched--­and where they ­were currently sitting, smack dab in thethis section of the shore"

She indicated where the waves broke on the reef and the small, calm space between them "It’s an easy access point from--" She swore She ­couldn’t say it There ­were no ships along ­here, but that didn’t mean that one or two or ht, and slipped in their violent, vicious cargo using s Now"

"Don’t you think they would already have attacked if they’d seen us?"

Rowan pointed to the sun If he was about to tell her it ­wasn’t safe for a queen to be throwing herself into danger, then he could-- "If ­we’re going to explore, then ­we’re going to do it under cover of darkness So ­we’re going back to the strea to eat And then, Princess," he said with a wild grin, "we are going to have sood must have decided to take pity on the clouds rolling in with a vengeance to conceal any sound they h search of the caves

But that was about where their favor fro on their bellies on a narrow cliff overhanging a barren beach, orse than anything they’d anticipated It ­wasn’t only

It was a host of soldiers

A few ed aht have missed them had it not been for Rowan’s keen sense of smell He did not have the words, he said, to describe what that smell was like But she knew it

Celaena’s ures slipped in and out of the cave with disciplined, econohly trained They ­weren’t rabid, half-­feral monsters like the one in the library, or cold, flawless creatures like what she’d seen in the barrows, but mortal soldiers All of them aware, disciplined, ruthless

"The crab-­e He said--­he said he found weapons in his nets They h to swiet a closer look" She raised her brows at Roho gave her a hunter’s smile "I knew you’d be useful someday"

Rowan just snorted and shifted, a flicker of light that she hoped was gobbled up by the storlided across the water, nothingfor a meal, then circled back until he rested on a rock just beyond the breaking waves She watched hi for shelter fro of the cave, he swept inside

She didn’t breathe the entire tiaps between the thunder and the lightning, her fingers itching to grab on to the hilt of her sword